Annual Fund Giving & Getting Guidelines for Trustees

All of your organization’s fund-raising campaigns must have the leadership and the financial support of your Board of Trustees. The most important of those development efforts should be the raising of funds necessary to maintain and enhance your organization’s programs and services year after year. This is accomplished through the Annual Fund Campaign. The annual fund provides the “bedrock” of reasonably predictable renewed support and is the entry-level for larger gifts possible for future endowment, capital, sponsorship and underwriting campaigns and planned giving programs. Thus, the annual fund especially requires that your trustees be in the forefront as they contribute their own funds and as they personally raise other money. To successfully raise money externally, you must first raise money internally, and that starts with your board.

Principal Guidelines

Know the giving capability of each of your trustees. Each trustee should be rated and evaluated for his or her best giving potential in the same way other non-board individuals are rated and evaluated for their suggested giving to the annual fund campaign. You always seek a realistically large—hopefully the maximum—potential gift from each of your trustees.

A minimum gift requirement to be a trustee is usually not a good idea. The minimum amount could be more than some trustees are capable of giving who can provide other, non-financial, benefits to your organization. It is necessary to have as many trustees as possible on your board who have the potential to to make significant financial contributions. However, you should also encourage and accommodate a select and controlled number of others who, while they are not as financially able as the other trustees, have special skills enabling them to contribute their valuable expertise and leadership to your organization’s marketing, finance, law, accounting, etc., activities.

The minimum amount might be much less than some trustees could actually give. Being asked for donations well under what they could provide usually means your trustees will settle at those lower amounts. In those instances, when you ask small, you get small from trustees who have the capability to give you much bigger gifts.

A “give and get” minimum requirement combination of personal giving and personal raising of funds to be a trustee, is also not a good idea. The minimum total amount “quota” you set for them could be far less than some trustees might account for in total by way of their own gifts and from what they could personally raise from other sources. As a result, they will most likely relax their efforts when meeting their lower “goal.” They will, in effect, have done the job as you asked—and chances are they will not do more.

A “give and get—something”—or go off the board, is a good idea. Even those trustees with limited resources should be able to contribute some modest amounts of money. As well, they should be in position to provide their endorsements and participation to assist in solicitations of prospects assigned to other volunteers.

General Guidelines

External giving to your annual fund will be positively influenced if you can demonstrate to non-board prospects that your trustees support the campaign with their 100% participation. The philanthropic spirit is infectious. Giving is definitely influenced by the example of others—and your board is capable of setting the very best example for others to follow.

You should not readily accept from any trustee—one capable of making a sizable cash contribution but does not choose to do so—the idea that the giving of his or her time is the same as the giving of money.

Try to have each trustee personally solicited by the board president, rather than by his or her peers. Trustees were brought on the board by the president, and that is where the accountability lies. If this is not practical due to a large number of board prospects, other officers of your organization may assist the president with the solicitations.

It would be desirable to have the trustees’ total gift amount represent 20% to 33% of the total annual funds raised.

Look to other similar size and/or similar-mission organizations for their trustees’ average gifts to their annual fund campaigns which could justify setting a higher average level donation for your own trustees to target. This could help to reinforce and rationalize your individual ratings of the trustees. The premise of comparing favorably with organizations similar to yours is usually a compelling selling point with boards of trustees.

When it comes to successfully conducting your annual fund-raising campaign, you need an attainable goal, a plan for getting to that goal and the tools to execute that plan. But in the end, the success or failure of that campaign hinges on leadership and pace-setting contributions, and that governance responsibility and financial commitment starts on your Board of Trustees.

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5 Comments

Marianne Gellman
on July 24, 2015 at 4:48 pm

Ooops – that last post belonged with introductory letters to closed funders. Sorry. I’ll put it in it’s proper place, and you can just ignore it in this section.
I have something to say about Board giving too. I’ll save it for another time.
Thanks!
Marianne

Hi Tony – I just discovered your wonderful website today, and found great back-up for my explanation of “letters of introduction” to closed foundations to my boss. He prefers to include every detail and statistic on our accomplishments and how great we are, as well as a host of reports and attachments. Dry, impersonal, and soul-less. I’ve suggested that relying on the support of the government and financial institutions isn’t really sustainable, so he’s turning his attention to earned income as a way of expanding and diversifying revenue streams. Since he’s been here for 37 years, and we’re financially sound, successful, and true to our mission, he must be doing something right, I guess. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Marianne

Mildred, Thank you. Believing in the Mission and being dedicated to furthering it to the best of their ability, is one way—the best way—to see and have a “benefit” for being a board member. All board members, if not when joining the board, need to see the organization “in action” to be moved by the good results of the reason for being of the organization.

In short, whatever the mission of your organization, have those board members personally experience seeing the good being done with their help. This way, they can be justifiably proud, knowing that they are helping to make life better, or even possible, for scores of people or animals—or saving the environment. The “magic” come when they know and experience this in person.

But sometimes reluctant or intractable board members do not want to raise money even when being moved by the Mission. The reasons for this and the remedy can be read in my articles:

an excellent article seeing the Trustees as the first call of fundraising. This needs a change of mindset as most Trustees or Board members would like to see and have a benefit for participating on the Board. Any ideas on how to change mind sets?

Mr. Poderis, I met you quite some time ago. My former husband, Al Milano, ran the Cleveland Play House for a short period of time. I have been involved in the non-profit world as executive director of various institutions–including Cleveland Scholarship Programs–for many years. These days, I do consulting on non-profit management around the country. I just wanted to tell you that I think this article is the best I have ever seen on trustees and the annual fund. Congratulations on your excellent work.
Tina Milano